


In the Drift is Where the Lost Are Found

by theanonymouspen



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-08-19
Packaged: 2017-12-24 00:25:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/932940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theanonymouspen/pseuds/theanonymouspen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'll always be here. You can always find me in the Drift." Pentecost's last words to Mako combined with Dr. Newton Geiszler and Gottlieb's discovery about being able to enter the Drift with Kaijus lead to the development of a new generation of Jaegers, just in time for the world's next catastrophe. Becket Brothers-centric, though not incest/slash. Reviews loved!  Cross-posted from ffnet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Surprisingly, I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would. I really liked the concept of the "Drift," and after having watched the film, that was an aspect of the story that I wanted to play around with and create my own little addition to the story. Hope you all enjoy!
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** Pacific Rim, its story, characters, etc. are not mine. If they were, then at the very least Yancy Becket and Marshal Stacker Pentecost would not have died. And I might have spared Chuck Hansen. Maybe. If only for his father, Herc Hansen, and the dog.
> 
>  **Warnings:** This is a rare occasion in which what I've written is not meant to be slash, though I am primarily a slash writer. If you'd prefer to read it that way, feel free, but personally I draw the line at incest. I also fabricate a ton about the concept of the "Drift" and the link between pilots. If that doesn't sound like something you'd be down for, then you may not want to read on as this story would probably not be for you. Also, Raleigh/Mako shippers, beware—personally, I wasn't sold on their implied "love" connection, so they have more of a brother-sister vibe here. Again, if you don't like that idea, then you probably won't want to read any further.

**Prologue  
**

Five years ago, they "stopped the clock." The war with the Kaijus was over.

During the month following the final battle, those who were a part of the late Marshal Stacker Pentecost's assembled resistance spent the time breaking down the now obsolete force, and honoring the Jaeger pilots whose lives had been lost. Among the casualties never to be forgotten were Charles "Chuck" Hansen, Herc Hansen's beloved only son, and of course, Mako Mori's father figure, the great Marshal Pentecost himself. The end of the Human-Kaiju War also reopened old wounds of lives claimed by the beasts early on, among them the late Yancy Becket, occasionally and affectionately referred to as "Yance" by his younger brother.

In the last few days of Jaeger-Civilian Transition, which is what history books would call the postwar effort, Mako would sometimes observe, when she was not otherwise preoccupied with duties, her momentary co-pilot of the Gipsy Danger, Raleigh Becket. The pair hadn't spoken since their brief emotional exchange while sitting on one of the Jaeger's escape pods, and though neither would ever deny sharing a strong connection, that bridge was built on the mutual understanding of having loved and lost those closest to their hearts. Other people, and not each other, being the key point of the matter. Elation at having survived the worst had quickly faded upon the adrenaline diminishing and reality settling in. They had their lives and were grateful for it, but at the same time, victory had a little less meaning without the ones they had hoped to share it with; this much they agreed upon right before the weak mental link they shared dissipated.

It was an interesting phenomenon from being connected to the Drift; the longer one pilot is connected to another, the more likely a residue of the coupling will remain, even after having neurally disengaged from the Jaeger. The resulting long-term side effect was something men had only fantasized prior to the Jaeger Program, exchanging conversation completely internally between minds. The more compatible two people were in mind and body, the stronger the telepathic framework, which only increased in fortitude each time pilots neurologically plugged in to a Jaeger. The Becket Brothers had, at one time, been considered the prime example of such a bond. They had worn it with pride.

Though she could no longer hear Raleigh's thoughts and they hadn't had a conversation in weeks, Mako knew they didn't have to—she understood. Losing a family member was devastating no matter how they were lost, and even without the knowledge or firsthand experience of losing a Jaeger co-pilot, Mako had an idea how much more those feelings were amplified from the loss of such an intimate connection.

Not trusting herself to give the man words of comfort, Mako had kept her distance, watching from afar as the other former Jaeger pilot became more reclusive with time. The light, once so bright in his eyes, burnt out at around the same time his shoulders set into a tired forward hunch with a haggard and almost robotic gait to match. It wasn't too farfetched to say the change was probably attributed to the realization that Gipsy Danger was gone, and along with it, the one tangible piece of his brother that Raleigh had treasured the most, second to the man himself, of course.

The last words they exchanged was also the first and last time Mako was able to speak with Raleigh since that time on the escape pod. Both had been given their civilian relocation assignments in addition to being briefed on their reintegration into everyday society. Mako had just barely caught the man by the elbow right before his boarding a helicopter.

Tired blue eyes looked into concerned brown ones. The blonde half-smiled.

"Mako..." he said. "Came to say goodbye?"

"And good luck," Mako said with a nod.

Raleigh chuckled softly. "You too, Kiddo."

He had said it without thinking, but it was a mistake all the same. Blue eyes became steely at about the same time Mako was faintly able to recall a borrowed memory of a the Becket Brothers as little boys, with Yancy calling his little brother by the same nickname. Mako spoke up quickly, refusing to let their conversation end with tense silence.

"You'll be all right?" she asked.

"Yeah..." said Raleigh. "I will, in time. We all will."

Mako nodded again, offered the man a small smile and an outstretched hand. "Keep in touch?"

He took her hand and shook it.

"I'll be stateside," he said, and that was that.

Mako didn't think to ask any further questions like where in the states, or whether he'd give her a call. Every former member of the resistance had received a small directory of contacts consisting of important numbers such as the post-traumatic stress hotline that had been set up and specifically tailored for the survivors of the war. If they needed to find each other, there were a million ways in which they could, so Mako wasn't too worried about that.

Which is why she watched, with the utmost calm, as the blonde approached his chopper, climbed on board, and flew away from the dismantled base and out of her life. It would be five years before they would see each other again.


	2. I: Trigger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are at the second chapter! This one is unofficially titled, "The One Where I Totally Fabricate a Giant Chunk of Mako's Backstory." Of course, not only is the title so not catchy, it is also ridiculously long and I'm pretty sure it exceeds the character limit ffnet gives for chapters, though I haven't tried so don't take my word for it. Anyway, for those of you wondering when the Becket Brothers bromance is going to come on in, don't despair! It's right around the corner, I just had to lay down this transitional chapter first to explain how exactly we're going to get there. Anyway, hope this chapter is as enjoyable (if not more so) than the last.

**I**

_"I'll always be here. You can always find me in the Drift."_

Mako woke up in a cold sweat. She had learned to deal with the nightmares pretty well in the years since her orders to return to life as a civilian in Tokyo, but those horrors had mostly consisted of the ugly, despicable faces of the Kaiju. The memories of her adoptive father, being the most painful, she had managed to always keep at bay. It wasn't that she didn't miss him—on the contrary, she never stopped missing him—but she wasn't completely confident that she was emotionally capable of handling all the memories, good and bad, even with so much time having passed.

Though she hadn't had any experience with a Jaeger neural connection prior to her mission with Gipsy Danger and Raleigh, she had indeed learned how to form and maintain one in a more controlled environment; a classified room that been known only to her, her adoptive father, and the two scientists who helped build the simulator for them—even government officials had not been made aware of the secret project, which was most assuredly illegal without the attainment of proper approval from the appropriate legal offices. Marshal Pentecost had commissioned for it, partially in hopes to appease his daughter's curiosity, but also to prepare her, should she insist and one day succeed in becoming a Jaeger pilot. Despite the danger to himself, the late marshal had made certain that no one other than himself would be permitted to tap in to his daughter's mind. After all, despite how they had become family in the end she still was his beloved daughter, and he had a duty to protect her at all costs.

A few years of the neural handshake training went by seemingly without incident until their mental bond had unexpectedly grown strong enough to the point where a telepathic link between them had been reached. Her father hadn't noticed the residual connection at first, and so he was caught completely off-guard when Mako confronted him and inquired about his pill-popping habits and the nosebleeds. Several episodes of tears and shouting matches later, the Jaeger pilot simulations ended, but the connection still remained and grew stronger by the day. Each learned to put up their own mental defenses and dealt with it in his or her own way, but at the end of the day, both were secretly grateful for the odd occurrence. Mako had always been proud of having a connection with a parent in a way that most other children probably couldn't, and she knew without a doubt that her father had felt the same. Which was why when one day her father came home in a sullen mood and she saw in his mind what had happened to the brother co-pilots of the Gipsy Danger, she had immediately broken down and cried—the loss was something she hoped to never experience.

Pentecost, having felt her distress, had burst into her room immediately then and apologized profusely for not having been more careful with his thoughts, holding her in his arms and rocking her gently back and forth like he had when she was a child, to comfort her from her bad dreams. When she finally calmed down, he had told her something strange. She wouldn't hear words similar to them again until years later, as Raleigh Becket's new co-pilot of the Gipsy Danger.

_"I will never leave you, Mako. We will always be together, in the Drift."_

But she didn't want to only be left with the memories, Mako had cried. She never wanted again to be in a situation where memories of a loved one was all she had left. Memories, if not replayed in obsession over and over again had a tendency to fade and become lost in one's own mental abyss. She had wailed into her father's shirt, soiling it with her tears. It was a valid fear; she had experienced it once before, with her biological parents. She had lost them so far back that she could hardly remember anything of them aside from maybe the faint scent of cologne or how long and what color the strands were of the hair on their heads. Her father's comforting whispers had fallen into silence then. It was only after a few minutes of them sitting in the quiet when her father had slowly run a hand through her hair and told her something she didn't understand then and eventually forgot about, but somewhere it would stay there with her, in the back of her mind until the day would come when she _could_ make sense of it _._

The Drift was so much more than just a way to get inside another individual's mind, he had told her. The whole process allowed for people to tap into parts of the human brain that were once completely inaccessible to mankind. Scientists were able to confirm that the brain was indeed capable of working exactly like a computer; it could store and back up data just like the machine. Drifting opened up so many possibilities during a period where there was no time to explore them in depth, not until the Kaiju situation was taken care of.

Now that it was, Mako wondered if that's why she was remembering her father's words now, so that she could do something about it. The strange thing though, was that her dream had seemed more than what it was—more than even a memory. It was almost as if her father was trying to reach out to her.

 _"But that can't be,"_ Mako thought to herself, rubbing her hands over her face. _"Can it?"_

_Yes it can. It is._

She almost fell back on her bed in shock upon hearing the faint, yet familiar voice of her father. A hand slowly rose to her mouth and tears began to sting her eyes. It wasn't possible—she had to be hallucinating.

_No hallucination, Mako._

If it wasn't though, then it didn't explain why she could only hear and not see him. If they were somehow still connected via the Drift, she should be able to see her father's face.

_You're forgetting something, Mako._

Then again, thinking about it, perhaps that wasn't entirely true. Even when her father was alive, only when they were physically connected to the Drift, could they see each other. When disconnected, their telepathic link only carried words back and forth, not images. That being said, if they were somehow still connected, and what she was experiencing now wasn't just a part of her hopeful imagination, then that meant that her father could still be alive somewhere.

_Not could be, Mako. I am._

"Here" being inside her mind. In the Drift.

_Yes. That's right._

Mako threw the covers off her bed and grabbed the phone off her nightstand hastily. She had to call someone. Not just anyone, though. She quickly scrolled through her phone for the right number and then hit "send."

After a couple rings, a raspy voice answered. "H-hello...?"

"Doctor Geiszler," Mako said softly. "Sorry to call you so late."

She waited patiently, listening to the sound of groaning and shuffling around from the other end. "Nn...what time is it...? Five in the morning? Ah...sorry, who is this?"

"Mako. Mako Mori."

"Mako...oh...oh! Mako!" the voice suddenly sounded more alert. "Hey, it's been a long time! How are you? How's it going?"

"Fine, thank you," said Mako.

"Great! That's...that's wonderful! I'm glad to hear it," said the man on the other end. "So is there something I can help you with then? I mean, given all these years that have passed, I'm assuming this is more than just a friendly hello..."

"Yes, sorry," Mako said, her tone apologetic.

"No, no, don't apologize!" the man chuckled. "It was the war that brought us all together, after all. Once you take away the cause...there wasn't much need for any of us to really keep in close touch now, was there?"

"Perhaps not," Mako agreed.

"Right...well, so...what can I help you with?" the man asked again.

"Doctor Geiszler," Mako said slowly. "Do you still have a lab?"

The doctor answered after a brief pause of silence. "Um, pardon?"

"Do you still have the Drift technology from the Jaeger Program?" Mako asked. "Or can you recreate it?"

"Oh! Uh, well...they did take it all away when the Kaiju War ended, but I still have the clearance to access it, if that's what you mean. Why?" Dr. Geiszler asked. "Did you have something in mind?"

"Yes!" Mako said excitedly. "Doctor, I have something to tell you. When can we meet?"

"Meet? Uh...I don't know," the doctor sputtered. "This is kind of sudden...I'm in the States. You're back in Tokyo now, aren't you?"

"Yes," Mako confirmed. "I can meet you there, no problem."

"No problem?! Um...okay...how soon do you think you can get here then?" Dr. Geiszler asked. "Washington, D.C.—it's where all the tech is stored."

"Then that is where we will meet," said Mako. "I can catch the next available flight, and it will take me approximately fourteen hours."

"Okay...well, you let me know when you get on a plane. I've got to make some calls and...make the trip down. I'm in New York."

"That sounds good, doctor."

"Yeah? Well, all right then. I guess I'll be seeing you in several hours."

"Yes," said Mako.

"...you know the only reason why I'm not asking too many questions is because I trust you, right? You being the late marshal's adopted daughter and all?"

Mako replied, managing to keep her tone level. "Yes."

"Okay...all right," said Dr. Geiszler. "I'll be seeing you soon then."

"Yes," Mako said before hanging up the phone. "See you soon."

She fell back in her bed then, and pushed out a deep breath of air, staring at the ceiling. She had a big day coming up ahead of her. A comforting warmth filled her chest as the voice of a man she held most dear filled her thoughts and the silence.

_That's my girl._

Mako smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will have more Becket, I swear! Stay tuned!


	3. II: Drifting Remnants

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Becket brothers from here on out! Enjoy! Just as a heads up, in here, I fabricate more history, facilities, facts about the Drift technology, etc. Just a heads up! Oh, and as always, reviews are loved!

**II**

_"Raleigh? Doctor Newton Geiszler. Do you remember me? From the Jaeger Program? Listen, there's something I need to tell you..."  
_

The only thing that could really attribute to Raleigh's decision to fly from one end of the country to the other and subject himself to countless security checkpoints was genuine curiosity. He had received the strange message from Dr. Geiszler that morning, a man he hadn't heard from in years since the end of the Kaiju War. The doctor hadn't divulged all of the little details in his voice mail, and Raleigh had taken his time in returning the call, unsure how he wanted to respond at first. The doctor wanted to meet in the nation's capital. He had mentioned something about reviving the Drift technology from the Jaegers. What Raleigh couldn't figure out was why. After all, the Kaiju War had been over for years, and as far as he knew, there were no new impending threats to address. He almost made the decision to ignore the call, but it was the last part of what the doctor said that bothered him.

_"Let me ask you, do you ever hear a voice? Like...in your mind, but you think it sounds more like it's right in your ear? Kind of like when you were plugged into the Drift? If you do, can you recognize the voice? Is it distinct? Does it remind you of your brother, perhaps?"_

Raleigh knew the doctor had probably been dealing with his own demons regarding a "voice," after all, the man had done the unthinkable and mind-melded with a Kaiju during the war. Raleigh was sure the man had experienced nightmares in his sleep, much like what he had been suffering every night since the war, though the doctor's dreams were probably of a different caliber of horror than his were, and that was something Raleigh didn't envy. It was enough to relive his older brother's dying moments almost every night, though there were the odd moments where he thought he heard his brother's disembodied voice chiding him, reminding him not to "chase the rabbit." That was usually when he'd wake up, go to his fridge, chug a can of beer, and then go back to a more merciful state of dreamless sleep.

_"Look, when you can, could you please give me a call back? My number is..."_

The doctor's message he could have ignored, if it weren't for the obvious sheer excitement that Raleigh could hear in the man's voice. The doctor had discovered something, and based on the message, it had something to do with the voice Raleigh felt was sometimes swimming around in his head, and that was the other thing. The doctor chose to say "voice," in the singular. He had even gone so far as to imply that the voice Raleigh was probably hearing was Yancy's. There was no way, Raleigh had reasoned, that the doctor would call him after all these years of silence seemingly out of the blue just to suggest that. Not unless he had found something. At least, Raleigh couldn't think of any other logical explanation for the other man's call. So after Raleigh had gotten up from his bed, had breakfast, performed his usual workout routine in his home's makeshift gym, and taken his shower afterward, Raleigh went ahead and called the doctor back while he got dressed in some halfway decent clothes and not his usual raggedy casual attire. Something told him he needed to be ready. Well, more like some _one_ , but Raleigh never wanted to give the voice he heard more power than necessary. He didn't want to be a soldier who couldn't let go of his ghosts. He had seen the toll it had taken on Herc Hansen. They had met again once, years ago, just for old times sake and Raleigh had seen such a vacant look in the older man's eyes. Herc had told him he often had conversations with his son, that it was like the boy had never left, and by the end of the conversation there had been such a tense and awkward silence that had settled between them that Raleigh felt almost relieved when Herc said he thought it was probably best if he should leave. Admittedly, Raleigh had felt a little guilt; Herc had clearly reached out to him hoping that Raleigh would at least understand—losing a brother wasn't the same as losing a son, but it was still a matter of family. They hadn't contacted each other since.

Regrets from the past set aside, Raleigh unconsciously held his breath while he listened to the phone ring in his ear. The doctor picked up on the fourth ring.

"Raleigh!"

"Hey Doc," said Raleigh. "Long time. What's going on?"

"Yeah, it sure has. Listen, I'd love to tell you all that I've found here, but it might actually be better if you could fly over. You open to the idea of making a spontaneous trip to Washington?"

"State?"

"Hah! Wishful thinking, my friend!"

"Right, the capital, then," Raleigh said, rubbing a thumb against his forehead. "That makes more sense—should have thought of that first."

"Hey, I understand! If someone told me to suddenly drop everything and go meet them in another state, one could only hope it was just a drive away!" the doctor chuckled at his own lame and clearly one-sided joke. "Then again, come to think of it, that's exactly what happened to me!"

Raleigh frowned. "Uh...what?"

"Er...never mind!" Dr. Geiszler said quickly. "The point is, we need you here, Raleigh! Like I said in my message, I've got something you definitely want to see. Can you come?"

"I..."

"Yes?!"

"Sure..."

"Fantastic! What's your email? I'll send you everything you need—even pay for your airfare! Isn't that just generous of me? I mean, well, technically the government is paying for it, but—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Raleigh said, a frown forming on his face. "The government? What's this got to do with them?"

"Oops! Looks like I've said a little too much!" the doctor chuckled nervously. "Listen, kid. Let's just get you over here first and then we can get to the fine print, okay? Now what's your email?"

"It's just rbecket," said Raleigh. "At the PPDC address. It's still active."

"Ah, I forgot they made an allowance for that," said Dr. Geiszler. "I'm surprised you decided to continue its use. You still considered an active pilot then, I take it?"

"When they asked if I wanted to stay on board or retire, I just said what the hell," Raleigh answered honestly. "I've got nothing else really going for me anyway. Might as well leave my options open—I'll be the first to respond to any new threat in need of a Jaeger pilot."

"Very good. In fact, that's terrific news!"

"It is...?" Raleigh asked somewhat wearily; he wasn't sure how he felt about the doctor's enthusiastic tone.

"Yes! It is!" the doctor said excitedly. "It also explains a thing or two."

"It does...?"

"Yes siree! That's why the official heads here didn't seem to kick up too much of a fuss about footing the travel bill for one of their own. It really expedites the process, you know? Pack your bags, kid! I'll arrange a flight for you and send the information now. About how long would you say it takes for you to get to the nearest airport?"

"Uh...maybe an hour or two, give or take?"

"Great, well, it's probably more likely we'll be seeing each other tomorrow at any rate, but see you around, real soon!"

The doctor hung up before Raleigh could say or ask anything further, and seconds later his phone pinged with an alert that he had received an email. Raleigh checked it, and sure enough there were two emails; one containing a link to a ticket for his flight, and the other with instructions on what he needed to do once he landed in the nation's capital. The fact that the trip appeared to only be one-way was a detail that had not passed by him; Raleigh packed accordingly and went on his way.

Now, here he was, following two men dressed in black suits and wearing sunglasses down some long corridor of an underground facility that, prior to that day, Raleigh had never even been remotely aware of its existence. They walked him to an elevator, whereupon entry he noticed a set of seats very similar to something one would see at an amusement park. He looked in confusion at his two escorts who responded by wordlessly turning him around and strapping him into one of the seats before doing the same for themselves. Once they were all secured, the man to Raleigh's left hit a button and they were falling at an incredible speed before Raleigh had a chance to realize what was going on. Raleigh managed to unbuckle himself once the elevator came to a complete stop, and he stepped out the opened doors with his eyes squinted, trying to adjust to the sudden burst of light that assaulted his senses. He barely heard the doors close behind him and the sound of the elevator shoot back up the way he had come.

It took a minute for his eyes to adjust, but when they did, he let out a gasp of amazement. "Holy shit."

"I know! Totally blows your mind, doesn't it? I thought the same when they first told me what they did with all the old technology from the Jaeger Program."

The familiar voice of one crazed doctor brought Raleigh out of his reverie. He looked down at the smiling face of Dr. Geiszler.

"Welcome to our little secret base of operations...underground!" he said brightly. "It's good to see you again, Raleigh!"

"Uh, yeah..." said Raleigh, voice shaking a little as the doctor took one of his hands and shook it with great force up and down. "Good to see you too, Doc."

"Well, let's not waste any time!" Dr. Geiszler said, his voice chipper. "Right this way!"

"How the hell did they get all this down here?" Raleigh asked, unable to keep the awe out of his voice.

"Ah, good question, that one!" Dr. Geiszler responded. "One that I don't really have the answer to. See, they explained it all to me during my orientation, but really, I was only half-paying attention then. It was like a three-year long project or something, blah, blah, blah, I don't know! You'll have to ask Hermann. He was there too—he's better at remembering that sort of thing anyway."

"Er...right," said Raleigh. "So where are we going?"

"Now _that_ , I _can_ answer!" said the doctor. "At the moment, we are on our way to this base's weapons bay. One of the things I want to show you is in there."

"All right..."

"Patience, my boy! All your questions will be answered in due time!" said Dr. Geiszler. "In fact, here we are!"

They were stopped in front of a giant metal door. Raleigh waited while the doctor punched in a code into a keypad and almost rolled his eyes upon seeing that the doctor had to also swipe a card, give his thumbprint, and was additionally subjected to a retinal scan. No stranger to military protocol, Raleigh could respect extreme security measures, but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder how efficient it was to have them always in place, especially in times of major crisis, when the situation becomes so chaotic there's not really a lot of time to be swiping a card, punching a key code, and a whole song and dance number just to get to a weapon. To Raleigh, the whole thing sometimes seemed like unnecessary overkill.

The metal doors groaned open after the doctor had input all of his credentials. Raleigh followed the doctor into the room, and it took him a moment to realize what exactly he was looking at. He choked back the emotion welling up in his throat.

"Doctor...is that...Gispy?"

"Yes and no," said Dr. Geiszler. "The shell is indeed undoubtedly mirrored after the original Gipsy Danger. After all, we _did_ refer back to old blueprints; however, you know as well as I that the first Gipsy Danger served its final mission detonating in the inter-dimensional rift. With no access to the portal or the world it opened up to, there was no way to salvage the actual remains of the original vessel."

Raleigh's jaw clenched. "Right. So aside from the design, this is a completely new Jaeger?"

"Again, you're both right and wrong," said the doctor. "On the one hand, yes, about ninety-five percent of it is completely new. There's a small percentage that was indeed part of the original."

Raleigh frowned. "What are you talking about? Which part?"

A familiar accented female voice answered him. "Several components from the Gipsy Danger's original Conn Pod."

Recognition lit up in Raleigh's eyes immediately upon seeing the Japanese woman who jumped down to their platform. "Mako..."

He received a nod of acknowledgement and a smile as Mako continued. "My father had commissioned for it to be removed and replaced when the changes were made to the Jaeger for our mission. It is now installed in this version of Gipsy Danger."

"Okay..." said Raleigh. "So how is that significant?"

"Well, it's significant because of what each Jaeger's Conn Pod contains," Dr. Geiszler interjected. "That Marshal Pentecost...brilliant man, that one! The rest of us were so busy trying to figure out how to solve the Kaiju problem, and meanwhile, he was concurrently working on another project all on his own! Hermann and I are calling his discovery ' _Remnants_.' From the Drift!"

Raleigh raised an eyebrow. "Remnants?"

"Allow me to explain," said Dr. Geiszler. "Remnants are one of many long-term side effects of Drifting. When pilots initiate a neural handshake, as you know, minds not only meld together, but they also meld with the computerized system of the Jaeger itself."

"Right...I follow so far," said Raleigh.

"Great! Now, as a former pilot, you are also aware of the concept of Ghost-Drifting, correct?" Dr. Geiszler asked.

Raleigh nodded. "Yeah. It wasn't that strong at first, but after Drifting with my brother for years, it got to a point where we were like the Psychic Twins—we could communicate regularly without words, even outside of the Drift."

"Exactly!" said Dr. Geiszler. "And here's the best part! You still can."

Raleigh frowned. "Come again?"

"It turns out, Marshal Pentecost discovered something about navigating the Drift," said Dr. Geiszler. "A part of you always gets left behind, but not just any part, a spiritual part. It's something mankind has only _dreamed_ _of_ up until now, and the late marshal was the first to discover the answer to the ultimate question! Is immortality achievable? And the answer is...ding-ding-ding! An all-resounding _yes!_ Hah! Could you imagine how rich the man would be if he were still around today? Actually, come to think of it, even that might eventually have a chance in happening as well! The man was a genius, you hear me?! Genius! Or _is_ a genius, perhaps I should say, since—"

"I don't mean to interrupt, but..." Raleigh said, confusion clearly evident in his expression. "Am I hearing you correctly? Immortality...? An implied second coming of the late marshal? Doctor...I'm not sure I understand what you're saying..."

"The Doctor is getting quite ahead of himself, but it's true," Mako answered coolly. "You hear him too, don't you? Your brother?"

"I...well, yeah," Raleigh said, his brows furrowing together. "Wait...Mako, are you saying you hear him too?"

"No," Mako said, shaking her head. "Perhaps if I piloted the Gipsy Danger with you longer, I would have; I only shared both your and his memories during our final mission. I kept nothing from after that."

"Then...what did you mean by 'you hear him too'?"

"She meant the voice," said Dr. Geiszler. "Do you hear a voice?"

"Yeah...I do, but you knew that already, didn't you, Doc?" Raleigh asked before looking back at Mako. "What kind of voice do _you_ hear, then?"

Surprisingly, it was Hermann Gottlieb who answered his question. "Well isn't it obvious, Mister Becket? Marshal Pentecost's, of course."

Three pairs of eyes turned in the direction of another fellow who was leaning against his cane. The man limped over to them.

"Gottlieb..." Raleigh said with a small chuckle. "You're late to the reunion."

"Pardon my intrusion," Gottlieb said with a slight bow. "But I couldn't help myself—these two are proving themselves to be rather incompetent in explaining everything to you."

At this, Mako tried to stifle a smile as Dr. Geiszler bristled. "Why I—"

" _Save it_ , Newt," Gottlieb said in his signature tone of boredom, holding up his free hand to stop the other man from speaking. "You have a tendency to explain things without providing context, resulting in total and utter confusion."

Mako laughed lightly and put a hand gently on Dr. Geiszler's back, pushing him in another direction. "Come, Doctor, let us leave them for now."

"I'll see you later?" Raleigh asked.

"Yes, later," Mako said with a nod.

Raleigh couldn't help but chuckle as his former one-time co-pilot led the now muttering Dr. Geiszler away. Gottlieb didn't even bother to keep from rolling his eyes.

"Ah well, he'll get over it," Gottlieb said drily.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Raleigh joked.

The two men shared a brief chuckle. Gottlieb turned to stare at the new Gipsy Danger, then looked at Raleigh from the corner of his eye.

"So," he said. "You have questions."

"I do," said Raleigh. "Do you have answers?"

The other man turned to him then. "I will answer them to the best of my ability. Ask away."

Raleigh took in a deep breath. "Okay, then _first_ —what is so significant about having Gipsy Danger's old Conn Pod?"

"Ah, good question," Gottlieb said with a smile, nodding. "And probably the best one to start with, as it will help with answering the rest of what you're most likely pondering."

His body leaned heavily against his cane and used his free hand to point in the general direction of the Conn Pod's location. "Each and every Jaeger that's ever been built has a Conn Pod—the epicenter of all Drifting activities that occur within the machine."

"Right, that much I understand," said Raleigh.

"Think of the Conn Pod as one giant computer with a stationary hard drive," said Gottlieb. "And the human brain as an external hard drive that can both accept and transfer data."

"Okay..."

"Each time a pilot enters the Drift, a copy of all past memories are given to the co-pilot as well as to the Conn Pod," said Gottlieb. "Live moments, as you know, are translated instantly into memories by the brain, and those are copied to both places as well."

"And the telepathic connection?"

"That's what makes the whole thing so interesting. There wasn't much we understood about Ghost-Drifting at first, except for scientific discovery that pilots assigned to the same craft were over time able to communicate even outside of the Drift, and it was proven beyond a doubt that the side effect was indeed _not_ schizophrenic in nature. On the contrary, we had discovered a welcome benefit to prolonged Drifting, and only encouraged it to happen more."

"Yeah, it was pretty cool," said Raleigh. "Especially when I needed to talk to my brother without anyone else knowing. No one else had access to our link, so it was perfect for private conversation whenever we needed it."

"Is it safe to say that you still maintain it? This.. _._ _back-line_ of sorts, I suppose you could call it?"

Raleigh frowned at the question. "What are you getting at? You trying to tell me it's possible my brother is still alive, or something like that? 'Cos that's the only way it would explain why the connection is considered _active_ , and not..."

"You going insane?" Gottlieb supplied.

"Well, yeah..." Raleigh said, letting out a sigh. "I mean, I hear him sometimes, my brother, or at least...I used to. Then when I realized I was starting to lose my marbles a little bit, I put a stop to it completely. Shut the voice out."

"And if I were to tell you otherwise?" asked Gottlieb. "That in fact, the opposite is true—the voice is still very much your living brother?"

"Then that's just crazy talk," Raleigh said angrily, his expression dark. "If that's all you've all brought me here for, then this has just been a complete waste of time, not to mention hurtful. Bringing back the dead is impossible, Gottlieb. And to try and sell me false hope thinking I'm naïve enough to buy it? Now that's sick."

"But weren't you listening, Mister Becket? This isn't a mere hypothesis we're talking about here," said Gottlieb. "It is a theory that's been thoroughly tested. In fact, we've got proof that it's a sure fact. Dedicated the whole last year to our research, we did, until we were completely one-hundred percent certain. Miss Mori would not have asked for us to contact you otherwise. She knows how much this would mean to you, if true—and I assure you, it is."

"I..." Raleigh trailed off uncertainly, taking an unconscious and defensive step back from Gottlieb.

Gottlieb gave him a thin smile. "I understand that this is probably a lot to take in, but allow me to provide you with further details. You've heard the saying, haven't you? They're usually the choice last words of the dying. That they'll always be with you? Even if not physically, but here, in the heart?"

He patted his chest to emphasize his point. Raleigh nodded.

"What does that have to do with anything?" the blonde asked warily.

"Ah, but Mister Becket, it has _everything_ to do with it," said Gottlieb. "This is what Newt was trying to tell you regarding the Remnants. To better explain them, let's revisit what I was saying earlier about the human brain and Jaeger Conn Pod being hard drives."

"All right..."

"When Jaeger pilots connect to the Conn, and the neural handshake is established, the memories are not only transferred between brains, they are also stored in the Conn. Permanently."

Gottlieb waited for a moment to allow this bit of information to sink in. He continued when Raleigh showed no real sign of outward response aside from his brows furrowing close together. The older man sighed.

"The interesting thing that the late marshal apparently discovered, however, was that the Conn stores more than just data—more than just _memories_."

Raleigh shook his head slowly, his face still tight with a frown. "Forgive me, Gottlieb. I'm afraid I still don't understand at all what it is you're saying..."

"What do we know about _death_ , Mister Becket?" said Gottlieb. "Is it when a person's heart stops? No. There's still always that chance we can bring a person back to life. When a person stops breathing then? Again, no. We have machines that can do all the work for you. So then, what is it? Where do we draw the line? When? How do we know when a person is dead?"

"When the brain no longer functions?" Raleigh asked.

"Hah! Well, you've got half of it," said Gottlieb. "Science dictates that when a person's brain ceases to show neurological activity—when it flat lines—then that person is considered dead, but even then, there's still a tiny window where a patient could be brought back to life by electrical shocks."

"So then how are we supposed to know?" Raleigh asked. "What's the measure?"

"This is where we get into what some people might consider the religious," said Gottlieb. "We're talking in spiritual terms here now, Mister Becket."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Raleigh. "All right, wait a second. Let me see if I'm hearing this right. You're telling me there's such a thing as ghosts now, or something like that?"

"Ghosts? Yes," said Gottlieb. "In the sense that what _remains_ —hence the term Newt and I coined together— _Remnants_ of former Jaeger pilots contained in a vessel's Conn Pod only has memories up until their physical body was disconnected from the Conn. Anything after that, it would only be able to obtain only the next time the neural handshake is reestablished, or if the piece of spirit trapped within the Conn Pod goes from _passive_ to _active_."

"Passive?" Raleigh asked, suddenly only able to express his thoughts in the form of one-worded questions. "Active? Spirits?"

"Turns out, there is some weight to the idea that the human body is merely just another vessel for the _spirit_ , which is actually what makes the vehicle run, if you will," said Gottlieb. "A person does not truly move on to the next life—or the afterlife, if you prefer that term—until his or her spirit is completely snuffed out; extinguished. Now, in a time before Jaegers, there was no conceivable way to avoid this inevitable reality."

"And now...?" Raleigh asked warily, now vaguely recalling what Dr. Geiszler was saying earlier about the late Marshal Pentecost discovering a means of achieving immortality. "Are you saying a loophole to that has been found?"

"Precisely," Gottlieb said with a nod. "The Conn Pod saves some of an individual's spirit, but they don't save a _copy_ of it. We're still not sure how it manages to do this, but it _breaks a piece_ of the spirit _off_ and saves it. So, for example, when your brother was killed in combat, whatever of his spirit was still trapped in his body had nowhere to go, and therefore died with the physical vessel. The part of your brother that the Conn _preserved_ , on the other hand..."

"Went from playing a 'passive' role to an 'active' one," Raleigh finished for him, his jaw dropped and eyes widened as he realized that he might actually understand what Gottlieb had meant by those terms earlier. "You're saying that while I'm alive, the spirit _piece_ , or whatever it is you call that—"

"Remnant," Gottlieb offered helpfully.

"Yes, _Remnant_ ," Raleigh said, shaking his head. " _Whatever_ _._ Anyway, you're saying that so long as I'm alive, then the Remnant that the Conn has apparently taken from me without my knowledge, just sits there until I die? After which, the Remnant version of me 'wakes up,' in a sense, and basically picks up where I left off, sort of?"

"That's pretty much it, yes," Gottlieb said, nodding. "I think you've got it."

"Okay, then here's my next question," said Raleigh. "Assuming there is an afterlife, and further assuming one doesn't get to go unless all parts of a person's 'spirit' is 'extinguished,' as you said, from this life...then how come if a person dies physically, any memory of that doesn't do something like 'meet' with the Remnant that's been dormant inside a Jaeger's Conn Pod?"

"Ah, a very good question!" Gottlieb said, eyes brightening. "And fortunately for you, not one we didn't think to look into further. Allow me to explain."

"Please," Raleigh said, nodding.

"We also thought it was strange, well, _Newt_ thought it was strange—I suppose I'd rather credit only him for that idiocy," Gottlieb muttered, somewhat to himself. "—that the rest of the human spirit didn't gravitate toward the Remnant, like a planet to its sun, postmortem. _I_ , on the other hand, theorized that perhaps this was because an individual's spirit is actually _trapped_ in whatever vessel it decides to call home. In this case, either the human body or a Jaeger's Conn Pod. Even if a spirit knew how to 'find' the rest of itself, it would be unable to do so unless it could somehow be extracted from its physical vessel like during the neural handshake process in the Conn."

"And you were able to confirm that?" Raleigh asked incredulously.

"Yes," said Gottlieb. "With the help of Marshal Pentecost and Miss Mako as his translator."

"I can't even wrap my head around _that_ ," Raleigh said, shaking his head. "You're talking about him like he's still alive."

"That's because he very much is," said Gottlieb. "Though perhaps not currently to a standard that Miss Mako would like, though to some consolation, the discovery has caused her to become much happier than she had previously been in the years prior to this finding. Newt is actually looking into ways to legitimately remedy this problem, but that's a completely different discussion that I'd much rather leave for another day."

"I'm going to have to agree with you on that," Raleigh said somewhat sardonically. "I don't even want to think about what other totally absurd-sounding concepts I'm going to have to understand there. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me we have finally found a way to clone people with a standard human lifespan, and we can use what's been learned about the Drift and Conn Pods storing spirits to somehow give a person a second chance at living. I mean, can you think of the societal shitstorm news of a discovery like that would cause? People all over will be scrambling for a chance at using that type of technology. It defies logic. Hell, it defies _God_. Cancer patients could decide to clock out early just to start all over again. Criminals could forge a new identity for themselves, to maintain the anonymity to kill more or the chance to be a better person, if they had it in them to want to be. Celebrities will have found their fountain of youth! I mean, _geezus!_ The possibilities would be _endless!_ "

Gottlieb responded to the blonde's tirade with an ironic smile. Raleigh frowned.

"You're a lot smarter than I initially took you for," Gottlieb said, amusement evident in his tone.

The blonde's frown deepened in its intensity. "Oh no...no, no. Don't. Don't even go there. I don't think I even want to know."

"And I promised we wouldn't, didn't I?" Gottlieb said innocently. "At least it's not a topic of conversation we will be covering today."

Raleigh groaned. "All right, _look_. Suppose you're not pulling my leg, and suppose all of what you're telling me is actually completely true, as you say. Then explain to me _this_ —how exactly is it my brother and I can still even pull off a telepathic connection?"

"Well, you're both still alive, aren't you?" Gottlieb countered smoothly. "Technically speaking. And the both of your spirits are still 'trapped' in physical vessels, although one of you is decidedly not human. Aside from that glaring detail, the rest of your circumstances have otherwise remained unchanged."

"Okay, fair enough," said Raleigh. "But then how do you explain the fact that only _I_ have access to him? And if he's not simply just a figment of my imagination and really still a thinking, feeling, independent being...then how is it I have been able to completely block his voice out, hm? How do you explain that?"

"Well, it's really no different from how a relationship works at our level now, is it? When best friends or family members fight, don't we sometimes give each other the cold shoulder? Don't some of us excommunicate our family members for years? It's pretty much the same kind of concept," said Gottlieb. "As for how it could be that only you have the ability to see and communicate with your brother, well, that should be obvious, shouldn't it? You two have established a relationship built on years of neurological bonding as a strong and solid foundation. It made you one of our most effective, and consequently, widely acknowledged as our very best Jaeger team."

Raleigh folded his arms over his chest. "This is total bullshit."

Gottlieb sighed. "Well, I suppose sometimes there really is only one way to prove things to a skeptic, isn't there?"

Raleigh shook his head. "I don't know what you mean."

"Mister Becket..." said Gottlieb. "How do you feel about seeing whether or not things are true for yourself, hm? Experience it all, firsthand? How about a nice little reunion with your older brother?"

"I..." Raleigh trailed off with a frown; he asked Gottlieb, despite himself. "How?"

"Come," Gottlieb said, motioning for the blonde to follow him.

"Where?" Raleigh asked, though he started following the limping man anyway.

"Why, up to where you can enter Gipsy Danger's Conn Pod, of course!" said Gottlieb. "So you can enter the Drift. How else were you planning on testing things for yourself?"

Raleigh shook his head. Supposing that Gottlieb's logic was sound, then the man had a point, and Raleigh didn't have an answer or an alternative to give.


	4. III: Entering the Drift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it's safe to say the end for this fic is pretty much in sight—either next chapter or the chapter following will probably be the conclusion, unless readers mention wanting to see something that I haven't considered before, in which case I will do my best to honor the request. No guarantees, of course, unless it turns out the idea could actually flow smoothly into what I've already got going here. In which case, yes, I will do everything I can to put the scene(s) in.

**III**

For the first time in his life, Raleigh experienced a near-blackout while walking. At some point he had begun to drown out Gottlieb's words and he felt himself start to hyperventilate as they got closer to Gipsy Danger's head. A tingling sensation ran through the blonde's body, and all his senses felt either numb or dulled down. The logical part of him was fighting hard against the hope that was welling up inside his chest—that in a few minutes he could very well be seeing his brother again. That in fact, his brother had never truly left him.

Only when they reached the platform where he and Gottlieb would be transferred to the Conn Pod, did the scientist seem to notice Raleigh's state of distress. The older man regarded the blonde with a look of concern.

"You all right there, Mister Becket?" Raleigh barely heard the man ask. "You look rather pale."

"I'm fine," Raleigh said, his expression taut. "Let's go."

"Very well..."

Gottlieb pressed a button on a nearby intercom system and gave orders for someone to transport them into Gipsy Danger's Conn Pod. Within a few minutes of the orders being receive, Gottlieb and Raleigh were escorted inside the Jaeger. As soon as they entered the main section of the Conn, Raleigh felt his knees buckle; he was suddenly overwhelmed with a myriad of emotions, and it was the strangest thing, because it felt like someone had just crushed the mental barrier he had created for himself. Gottlieb reacted in time and managed to catch him before he fell. Raleigh felt himself be lowered gently to his knees. He barely felt the cool of the Conn Pod's flooring where his hands made contact with it to steady himself.

_Raleigh!_

The blonde shook his head. It was impossible. He was losing his mind. This was crazy, all of it. They had given him false hope, and despite his better judgment here he was now, lapping it all up and suddenly so desperate for it all to be true.

_Ral—hey! Rals! Relax, all right? It's okay..._

The situation was no different from entering the Drift during combat, Raleigh suddenly realized. Right now, he couldn't seem to figure out the difference between down and up; he needed to find a point to focus on.

_Come on, Rals! Stay with me! Don't chase the rabbit, you know better than that! What is it I've always told you?_

What was it his brother had always told him? Raleigh blinked rapidly, hoping to clear his vision, but to no avail—his vision wasn't dark, per se, but he also wasn't really seeing anything. He wasn't plugged in to the Drift, he knew that much, Gottlieb hadn't had the chance to go that far with him yet, but at the same time he somehow wasn't checked in to reality either; he felt like a third party, as if his spirit were free floating.

_Just let everything flow, kid. It's my fault. I should have fought harder. I should have let you know that I was still here. I just didn't want to hurt you._

Raleigh shook his head again. He didn't understand. Did his brother's voice always sound like this? He hadn't heard it in so long; he wished that he had a point of reference. He needed to know—he had to confirm that what he was experiencing now was no dream.

_This isn't a dream, Rals. I promise._

If it was real though, then Raleigh couldn't help but wonder how had his brother had managed to stay silent for so long. If it had been him, he might have gone crazy. If it were him right now, in his brother's place, he'd be bitter and angry for being left alone for so long, so neglected.

_I never completely stopped talking—I just figured out more subtle ways to do it. I had to make sure I wouldn't confuse you. You already weren't taking things too well.  
_

And it was true; Raleigh _hadn't_ taken hearing his brother's voice in his mind too well, even years after his death. The pain from the loss never stopped feeling so raw.

_Just stop for a second, Rals. Stop thinking. Let it all pass you by. The Drift is silence, remember?_

Raleigh remembered. He barely registered the chuckle that passed through his lips. How could he forget? His brother had only told him about a million times before they went through the usual neural handshake process each mission _._

The voice in his mind sounded amused. _Only a million? Come on, Rals. I'm sure I've reminded you more times than that._

 _"Okay,"_ Raleigh found himself mentally responding—maybe his brother _had_ told him more times than that.

He felt himself let out another nervous laugh. He couldn't tell if Gottlieb was still trying to say something to him; he was too absorbed in his thoughts or pseudo-Drift experience—whatever one would call this moment.

 _"I'm losing it,"_ he thought. _"I think I'm really finally losing it."_

_Oh for crying out loud—get a damn hold of yourself, Raleigh!_

That finally got Raleigh to focus. If there was a best way to get the blonde's complete and undivided attention, it was probably by reprimand or insult—either method would work. Suddenly, the world felt like it was no longer spinning. Time, and everything all around him seemed to stop. Raleigh let his eyes slide shut and focused on his breathing and nothing else. He counted to three, then slowly opened them. The world was quiet; the numb feeling was gone. Raleigh hadn't felt as if he had been pushed back into his body, but he definitely felt more alert now than he had before.

Gottlieb's soft voice broke through the silence. "You've made contact with him."

It was more of a statement than a question. Raleigh's eyes shifted to the right, where the scientist was crouched beside him. He gave the man a curt nod.

"I...I think so," Raleigh said somewhat shakily. "Maybe."

"I'm quite positive you did," said Gottlieb. "It's actually not a surprise you were overwhelmed here, given what you've told me. The closer you are to the source of the connection, the stronger it should be; that's logical."

"It was like that before," Raleigh confirmed. "Ghost-Drifting was easier when we were in the same room as opposed to opposite ends of the base."

"Right," said Gottlieb. "Now, do you think you can get up on your own, or do you need help to stand?"

"I think I can manage it..." Raleigh said, slowly steadying himself up on his feet. "Sir, why can't I hear him now?"

Gottlieb, who was now fiddling with some mechanisms within the Conn Pod, looked over his shoulder and raised a brow at Raleigh. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." said Raleigh. "That my brother...if that was really him...his voice, it was just so loud a second ago, and now he's just quiet."

The scientist chuckled. "Oh, I assure you, he's most certainly still there."

"How are you so certain?"

"On record, you both have been noted to be driven by impulse," said Gottlieb. "However, when the time called for mental restraint, your brother always appeared to have a better sense of control, easily pulling back when necessary."

"So he's muted himself?"

Gottlieb nodded. "In a sense, yes. Quite admirable qualities, no? His sense of discipline and self-control."

"Yeah..." Raleigh said, somewhat uncertain. "Yeah, I guess."

Gottlieb gave him an unexpectedly warm smile. "He probably just couldn't help himself. He's waited a long time to be with you again."

The very idea brought a sudden blur to Raleigh's vision. He involuntarily swallowed, trying to push the tears back.

"Yeah, probably," was all he could manage.

Gottlieb chuckled. An attendant walked in with familiar components and a Ranger's outfit. The scientist tilted his head in the attendant's direction.

"If you've no objections..."

"Yeah," Raleigh said, nodding. "I'm fine. I'll suit up."

"Excellent," said Gottlieb. "Then once we get you all situated here, I will head back to Mission Control and we'll have you enter the Drift, all right?"

"Alone?" Raleigh asked. "Will my mind be able to handle it? Won't there be a neural overload?"

"That was only true when the Jaegers were being used for combat, Mister Becket," said Gottlieb. "We're merely only having you enter the Drift; you won't be piloting the actual craft. In fact, we'll be making sure only the Jaeger's Conn Pod is active, and none of its other functions."

"All right," Raleigh said with a nod. "Let's get started then."

In a few minutes, Raleigh had settled into the Ranger gear and Gottlieb assisted him with getting connected to his old position as the Gipsy Danger's right hemisphere. He remained there, suspended in metal until he heard the Jaeger's communication system crackle online and Gottlieb's voice sifted through.

_"Now, you're going to feel a bit of a jolt, Mister Becket...do try your best to relax though, yes?"_

Raleigh nodded. "Roger that, sir! I'm ready."

 _"All right,"_ said Gottlieb. _"Then here we go."_

Before Raleigh knew it, he was engulfed by a blinding white light. He shut his eyes tight, instinctively.

Raleigh only finally dared to open his eyes upon hearing that painfully familiar voice. _"Hey Rals...hey there, kiddo."_

The younger Becket didn't see him at first, but when he did, he wasted no time and felt no shame in running toward his brother, who greeted him with a warm smile and outstretched arms. Raleigh rushed into his brother's embrace and crushed him with all his might, not at all caring that he probably seemed like a pansy in that moment, not worrying or thinking about anything or anyone else, just his brother.

" _Yancy_..." Raleigh shouted the name he hadn't said aloud in so long into his brother's chest, muffling some of his voice. "Yancy...Yancy...Yancy... _Yance._ "

They weren't kids anymore; hadn't been for a long time, but boy did Raleigh feel like one again in that moment. He felt his older brother's chest vibrate with the welcome rumble of his laughter. He felt Yancy give him a pat on the head, but Raleigh didn't dare look up yet. Part of him was still afraid that some sad, misguided part of him was making all of this up.

"Yup, that's my name, all right," Yancy said softly, his voice sounding surprisingly shaky. "Glad you haven't forgotten it."

Raleigh laughed, his quivering frame slowly coming under control. "Screw you, bro."

"I see that mouth of yours hasn't learned either," his brother responded with a chuckle. "You all right now, kid? You cool?"

"Yeah..." Raleigh said with a sigh. "Yeah, I think so."

"All right then, come on. Chin up. Let me take a look at you."

They pulled apart, and Raleigh took a step back. He stared straight down at his brother's feet and was unable to look up any higher; he was still fighting fear. He heard more than saw the frown on his brother's face.

"Come on, Rals," said Yancy. "I was the shy one growing up, remember? You've never had a problem looking a man in the eye."

He was right, Raleigh didn't. The younger Becket cleared his throat and forced himself to straighten his posture. Then he dared himself to look. It was too dry in here, and that stale atmosphere was the reason why his eyes were stinging and the tears were falling from them, trailing down his face. It wasn't because he was so overwhelmed with emotion upon seeing his brother again, no sir. Raleigh wasn't a crier.

His older brother chuckled and took a step forward, narrowing the gap between them. His eyes also appeared a little misty. He pat his brother on the head once more.

"Yeah, buddy..." Yancy said softly. "It's okay, kid. I know."

Raleigh forced his eyes to stare straight into his brother's. His hands remained at his sides, curling into tight fists.

"God, Yancy...I thought...I thought they were just pulling my leg," Raleigh said, voice shaky. "I mean, even before that, I just thought I was completely losing my mind—"

His brother laughed. "Yeah, kid, I know. I've heard you say and think it over a million times now."

"...only a million?" Raleigh said, cracking a small smile. "I'm pretty sure I've said and thought it more times than that."

Yancy shook his head, his face scrunched in mock-disapproval. "Oh yeah, throw my words back at me why don't you. That's real mature."

They shared a chuckle and a brief silence fell between them. Raleigh broke it first.

"Listen, Yance..."

His older brother held up a hand. "Don't worry about it, kid. It's all right, I know. I've been in your head, remember? You don't have to apologize."

"Still," Raleigh said, shaking his head. "I didn't know—I just hadn't been sure, you know? Not until..."

"Now?"

"Yeah," said Raleigh. "I mean...geezus...if it weren't for the pictures we'd taken, I'm not sure if I'd...I'd even remember your face right now, and..."

"And?" Yancy pried gently.

The younger Becket reluctantly tore his eyes away and looked elsewhere, off to the side. "And...well...talking to you here, now...I just know that you've got to be real, Yance."

Raleigh gave Yancy a sheepish smile and a small shrug. "My own subconscious wouldn't be so damn forgiving, you know?"

"Yeah, kid," Yancy said, ruffling his little brother's hair affectionately. "You're going to need to work on that. It wasn't your fault, you know."

"I was the one who said we should go fishing," Raleigh said stubbornly.

"You did, but I'm the older one," Yancy said, chuckling. "We have responsibilities, you know, us older siblings. We're supposed to be more structured and less impulsive. I'm just glad the one Knifehead took out wasn't you."

Raleigh shook his head and frowned. "Shut up."

"I thought we've both had enough of my silence?" Yancy said with a small grin that only grew wider when his little brother growled.

"Oh come on, Yance! You know what I meant!"

"Yeah, yeah...relax, little brother," said Yancy.

He tried not to laugh at the scowl on his younger brother's face; it reminded him so much of when they were little kids. He smiled at Raleigh, but his eyes reflected no humor, only seriousness.

"I meant what I said though, Rals. It's always been my job to protect you," said Yancy. "It's the role shared by anyone who is an older sibling. I don't know what I would have done if the Kaiju had gotten you instead. I certainly wouldn't have been able to finish the job. Not like you did."

"I was just barely hanging on myself," Raleigh muttered.

"But you did great, kid!" Yancy said, clapping a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You held your own."

"Just barely," Raleigh stubbornly repeated.

Yancy sighed. "All the same...I'm proud of you, kid. Always have been. And just for future reference, if something ever were to happen to me again..."

"But it won't, right?" Raleigh said suddenly, looking into Yancy's eyes with worry. "Not if we're careful this time, right?"

"That's right," Yancy said with a nod. "Well, at least in theory..."

"We'll be careful," Raleigh said tightly. "Extremely."

Yancy chuckled. "Yeah, we will kid, all right...I was saying though...if in the off chance something goes wrong again, I just want to make sure you know. I love you no matter what, even if you make a ton of mistakes. And don't you ever, ever blame yourself for anything bad that happens, okay?"

"Yancy..."

"Okay?" Yancy said, seriously. "You got that, little bro? Even if it seems like things could have been in control, or that you should have known something, just accept that you couldn't and that you didn't. Otherwise, you never would have let whatever it was happen. So don't beat yourself up over things anymore like you have been and try your best to forgive yourself. And know that even if it seems like you can't, just remember that you always have mine; my forgiveness."

Raleigh's jaw was tight. "Yance..."

His older brother shook his head. "That's not what I want to hear right now, Rals. What I want is to hear you promise."

"Yancy..."

" _Raleigh_ ," Yancy said with a frown. "Come on, kid. _Promise me_ _._ "

The younger Becket let out a sigh. "All right, okay, Yancy. _I promise._ "

"Promise what?"

Raleigh resisted the urge to roll his eyes and spoke very quickly. "I promise you that no matter what happens, even if it _is_ my fault, and not just that I _think_ it's my fault, I swear to you that I'll make every effort to forgive myself and keep living my life the way I always should, in the best way that I can."

"Good," Yancy said, nodding with a small smile. "I'm not sure I liked some of the cheek you threw in there, but it will have to do."

" _Good_ ," Raleigh said, intentionally mimicking his brother. "Because that's the best you're going to get out of me."

Yancy chuckled. "You're a little shit sometimes, you know that?"

"No, I forgot," Raleigh said with a smile. "I'm glad you're here again to make sure you constantly remind me."

Another brief silence fell between them, with Raleigh once again being the first to speak. "So..."

"So?" Yancy asked.

"What now?" Raleigh said, giving a one-shoulder shrug. "Where do we go from here?"

"Well from what I've gathered, based on what you've been told and what I've seen and heard through you, it sounds like they're still working on it," Yancy said honestly.

"Hm, well then if we can take Gottlieb's reaction to some farfetched theory I came up with earlier as any kind of indication as to what all that might be," said Raleigh. "Then now I kind of can't help but hope they'll figure things out faster."

"You and me both, bro," said Yancy. "But in the meantime, let's just count the blessings we've got for right now, yeah?"

 _"Mister Becket,"_ Gottlieb's voice faintly wafted through the communication line. _"How are we doing?"_

"Fine," Raleigh said, raising an eyebrow at his brother. "I totally forgot he was there."

"Me too," Yancy said with a chuckle. "You've got to say it out loud though, man, he's probably worried you're chasing rabbits endlessly."

Raleigh frowned. "What are you talking about? Didn't I just say that out loud?"

"No," Yancy said, shaking his head. "I'm pretty sure you didn't."

_"Hello? Mister Becket? Is everything all right?"_

Yancy smiled at his brother. "See? Case in point. He's probably not _too_ worried, since I'm sure his systems show your brain is producing a healthy amount of activity, but other than that, outwardly, you probably haven't been all that responsive."

"Well damn," said Raleigh. "How do I—"

_"Mister Becket?"_

_"What is it, Hermann?"_ that was the doctor's voice now coming through from the other end; Raleigh recognized it. _"What's going on? What's wrong?"_

_"Sorry, Newt. I had him plug into the Drift...his brain is showing normal signs of activity, but I can't get him to respond. I think he may be lost in there."_

_"Nonsense, Hermann! He's probably just forgotten how to do it; the man hasn't piloted the thing in years,"_ the Becket Brothers heard Dr. Geiszler clear his throat over the communication system. _"Um, excuse me, Raleigh? Listen, I hope you don't get mad at me for doing this, but we're going to have to disconnect you now. In the off chance that our dear Hermann here is right—which I don't think he is..."_

_"For once I hope you're right, but I take offense to that subtle insult!"_

_"Right, whatever. Anyway, in the case that he is, then this is for your own safety. Regardless, it appears that we will have to retrain you in navigating the Drift."_

Raleigh looked at his brother. "Looks like they're going to pull the plug."

Yancy nodded. "Yeah, looks like."

The younger Becket's eyebrows furrowed together in concern. "I...I'll be seeing you again, right? Won't I?"

"You will," his older brother reassured him with a nod. "I don't see why they wouldn't let you."

"Good," said Raleigh. "And if they try to keep me from coming back, I'll put up a fight."

Yancy laughed. "Yeah, I know you will, kiddo. I know you will."

He pulled his younger brother in for a tight hug. "Hey, don't worry, kid. Okay? Just remember, I'll always be here. So long as we have the Drift, we'll always have each other."

"Yeah," Raleigh said, smiling and patting his brother heartily on the back. "Yeah, we will, won't we?"

"That's right," said Yancy. "Besides, the only difference outside the Drift is that we won't be able to see each other like this, but we'll still get to hear each other just fine."

"Can't ask for anything more than that, right?" said Raleigh.

He felt his older brother nod. "Yeah. That's exactly right."

"Later, Yance."

"So long, kid."

Raleigh was pretty sure that he and his brother could have managed to let their goodbyes last forever, but just then the younger Becket felt the vaguely familiar sensation of pulling on the edges of his subconscious, and suddenly he was thrust back into the physical realm of reality and the inside of Gipsy Danger's Conn Pod. He heard the static of the communication link pop overhead, and looked up when he heard Dr. Geiszler's voice crackle through.

_"Hey, Raleigh! You doing all right in there?"_

"Yeah, fine," said Raleigh. "Sorry, Doc. I just got a little distracted in there."

 _"Chasing rabbits?"_ the doctor asked.

"No," Raleigh said, shaking his head. "Chasing Yancy. I found him, actually. Got to talk to him. We talked for a long time."

_"Well, technically, you probably only talked to him for a matter of five to ten minutes in real time, but—hey! Okay, okay, fine, I get it! The kid gets it! Okay, Hermann! Stop looking at me like that!"_

Raleigh chuckled to himself; he was pretty sure he could imagine the look that Gottlieb was giving the other man right now. Hermann Gottlieb's voice came through the communication system next.

_"So Mister Becket...tell us. How are you feeling? Is everything all right?"_

"Yeah, everything is...actually, hang on a second," Raleigh said, pausing.

Gottlieb was asking the same exact question that Dr. Geiszler asked not even two seconds before, but for some reason the difference in the tone of his voice made the blonde stop and think. His eyes had widened slightly upon realizing the subtle question Gottlieb was asking him.

 _"Just take your time, Mister Becket,"_ said Gottlieb.

"Thanks..." Raleigh said, somewhat absently as he looked off to one side, an old habit that he hadn't had a reason to perform in a long time.

 _"Yancy...?"_ he thought.

The reply came back almost immediately. _I'm right here, Raleigh, just like I said I would._

 _"Yeah, you are!"_ Raleigh thought excitedly. _"You're really here!"_

 _Always, little brother,_ came Yancy's voice. _Remember, I never technically left. And this time...this time I'll do one right by you, kid._

Raleigh smiled. He already knew what his brother was going to say next.

_I'll never leave you alone again._

_"Mister Becket?"_ Gottlieb's voice crackled overhead again.

Raleigh cleared his throat and returned his attention back to the communicator.

"Yeah, we're good, sir!" he said. "Everything's fine."

 _"Glad to hear it, Mister Becket,"_ said Gottlieb. _"Prepare to disengage."_

"You got it," Raleigh said, right before terminating the communication line by flicking a switch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like I said, either the next chapter or the chapter following the next one will probably be this fic's last. I know that makes this a really short story, but this really was originally all supposed to be condensed into one chapter to begin with—I just decided to break it down for the sake of easy reading. Not to mention there doesn't seem to be an overwhelming surge of reader response for this story, so it only seems appropriate to end this fic and invest my energies elsewhere. Regardless, I have been enjoying writing this, since it has been a welcome break from my longer fiction ideas, and I hope readers out there enjoy what's already here and what's left to come! Stay tuned!


	5. IV: Trial Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost at the end! Though I do think there needs to be more Becket Brothers in this fic, so I've actually decided to add at least one more chapter in addition to the one I've already planned before the story ends. Anyway, in this chapter, I totally create some more make-believe science, side stories, back stories...yadda, yadda, yadda. Just warning y'all!

**IV**

Perhaps in an earlier generation, in a time before Drifting was possible and the existence of Jaegers, Raleigh might have been considered crazy, maybe even committed to an institution on the grounds that he was hearing the voice of his dead brother in his head. Anyone who didn't know the context might even consider him a little unhinged now, not that it would ever bother the blonde. He had his brother back, and that's all that mattered.

 _"You should see this place, Yance,"_ Raleigh thought to his brother, sitting down on one of the many suspended walkway bridges, letting his legs dangle freely and his arms leaning against a rail, all the while happily munching away on a sandwich. _"They've got the whole operation going on underground."_

He smiles when he hears his brother chuckle in his mind. _I'll take a look at your memories next time you come to visit me, kid._

_"Sounds good to me, bro."_

The sound of a man clearing his throat behind Raleigh causes the blonde to turn and look over his shoulder to see Dr. Geiszler. Raleigh smiled.

"Hey, Doc!" he said. "What's up?"

The doctor flashed him one of his trademark grins, but Raleigh wasn't all that worried. People who didn't know him well or hadn't worked with him during the Kaiju War were probably the only ones who actually thought he was legitimately crazy. The rest of the world knew the man for who he really was—a genius.

"We've had a breakthrough, gentlemen!" Dr. Geiszler said happily.

He was addressing both Beckets, Raleigh realized with slight amusement. Dr. Geiszler always seemed to forget that even though Raleigh was able to communicate back and forth with Yancy, his older brother couldn't hear or see things going on from Raleigh's perspective directly; not unless he said something or if he allowed his brother to sift through his memories upon connecting to the Drift.

 _"Okay, so maybe he's a little crazy,"_ Raleigh thought.

 _Hm? What?_ Raleigh heard his brother ask with amusement. _You talking about the Doc?_

The younger Becket's lips twitched slightly upward. _"Yeah."_

_Hah! What's he saying?_

_"Just something about a breakthrough in the lab. Said he wants to tell us personally, but the truth is Gottlieb probably kicked him out so he doesn't mess up whatever it is they've got going in there."_

_Oh, too true! You're probably right. That's too funny, man. And he's telling 'us'?_

Raleigh resisted the urge to snort out loud. _"Yeah. Either he always forgets or for some reason he thinks that when he says something to me, you can automatically hear it without me telling you what's going on."_

The younger Becket could almost see his brother shaking his head from his tone. _Well we can't all be perfect now, can we? He's a super intelligent mad scientist. Let's cut him some slack._

Raleigh couldn't help but grin. _"Wasn't even trying to be hard on him, bro."_

_Yeah, that wouldn't be fair, would it? It'd be like Neil in the Academy lunchroom all over again._

_"What...? Oh! Oh, man! Neil Reisner? Dude! Totally forgot about him!"_

His brother laughed. _Seriously? How could you forget? You were the one who—_

Dr. Geiszler's fingers snapping in his face interrupted Raleigh and his brother's inner dialogue and brought the younger Becket back to reality. "Um, _hello_? Earth to Becket! You listening there?"

Raleigh shook his head and smiled. "Ah, sorry, Doc. Got a little distracted."

He looked off to the side for a moment to speak to his brother over their link. _"Hey bro, I've got to pay attention to Doc for a bit. Another time, yeah?"_

His brother's laughter filled his thoughts. _Yeah kid, no worries. We'll revisit your finest moments from your Academy days later._

_"Totally, man. Sounds like a plan."_

The doctor looked at Raleigh for a moment in awe. " _Man_ that's got to be _so cool_."

Raleigh's eyes shifted back onto the doctor and he raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"You were talking to your brother just now, weren't you?" said Dr. Geiszler. "It's got to be awesome having a telepathic connection with someone who can actually speak your language. When I was connected with the Kaiju, all I got was a lot of growls and roars. The only real useful things I got from them at the time were the images."

Raleigh laughed. "Yeah, that must not have been pleasant. And you're right, it is nice."

"Well, then this is where I say that the news I've got to tell you is good news!" said Dr. Geiszler. "Hermann and I have just perfected something in the lab, and he's testing things out on Miss Mako right now as we speak!"

"Testing something on Mako?" Raleigh asked with a slight frown. "What exactly are you guys testing?"

"Follow me!" Dr. Geiszler said excitedly. "I'll fill you in on the details along the way!"

Raleigh felt his older brother probing his mind gently as he walked after the doctor. _Hey, Rals, what is it? Is everything okay? I'm sensing a little tension from your end over here._

 _"Sorry about that, Yance..."_ Raleigh said to his brother with an apologetic tone. _"Just give me a few minutes and I'll let you know what's going on, okay? Hang tight."_

_All right..._

"So Hermann tells me you seem to have some idea on what we were working on," said Dr. Geiszler. "Well, he said you guessed, but turns out you pretty much had the right idea."

"Sorry, Doc," Raleigh said, shaking his head. "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."

"You don't?" Dr. Geiszler said, looking at Raleigh with a questioning glance. "I thought you and Hermann discussed the topic of clones."

This caused the blonde to stop in his tracks. "Whoa, Doc. Now that you mention it, yeah, I vaguely remember having maybe sort of that kind of conversation, but I was really just throwing out an extreme case scenario. I wasn't actually saying I believe it. You're not trying to tell me something like that's actually true, are you?"

There was an amused glint in Dr. Geiszler's eyes when he answered. "Am I?"

Raleigh's jaw dropped slightly, involuntarily. "How...?"

"We've learned many interesting things about the human brain in the past year or so," Dr. Geiszler said as the two resumed their walk. "With the help of the late marshal and Miss Mako Mori, Hermann and I were able to learn a great many things about death, life, and the answer to effective cloning."

" _Effective_ cloning, Doc?" Raleigh asked.

"Yes," said Dr. Geiszler.

Raleigh frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well," said Dr. Geiszler. "Turns out, there's a reason why clones don't last much longer than a few number of years, and apparently it has less to do with the length of telomeres—though that's still a pretty important factor—and more to do with what we've recently learned about Remnants and how they sort of 'power' the human body."

The doctor stopped in front of a door, punched in a string on numbers on a keypad, and entered into the next room when the doors slid open. Raleigh followed close behind.

"Telomeres?" Raleigh asked. "Doc...I'm not sure I follow."

"Oh for goodness sake, Newt!" Gottlieb groaned from where he was seated in front of a computer system. "Are you confusing the man yet again with your spotty explanations?"

"Hardly!" Dr. Geiszler scoffed. "I was just about to explain—"

Gottlieb sighed and rubbed a pair of fingers against his temple. "Forget it, Newt. I'll take over from here. I've calibrated the controls...Miss Mako and the marshal's host are secured. All that's needed is for someone to start the engine and a pair of watchful eyes. _Surely_ you can do that without straying from the plan, correct?"

"Fine, fine!" Dr. Geiszler muttered, trading spaces with Gottlieb. "Geez. You make one risky bet and suddenly no one appreciates creative improvisation."

"Despite how you interpret the intentions behind my lectures and reprimands, Newt, I assure you it's all because I care," said Gottlieb. "I'd much rather have you alive and well, my good friend."

"Aw, was that not a whole load of sentiment just now?" Dr. Geiszler asked, looking genuinely moved. "Hermann! I didn't know you had it in you! I'm touched!"

"Heaven help me," Gottlieb groaned. "Newt! Don't make me regret my words!"

"All right, all right! Relax, Hermie!" Dr. Geiszler laughed as he set to work on the controls. "

Gottlieb frowned. "Did you just call me Hermie?"

"Has a nice little ring to it, doesn't it?" Dr. Geiszler said with a grin.

Gottlieb sighed and rubbed his fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Oh, for the love of it...I'll deal with you later."

"Whatever you say, Herms!"

"Ignore him," Gottlieb said, turning to give Raleigh a pointed look.

The younger Becket wiped the smirk off his face right away. Gottlieb let out another sigh.

"Right...where were we..."

"We were talking about clones?" Raleigh said with a slight shrug.

Gottlieb nodded. "Ah, yes, that."

"The doc was saying something about Remnants and some T-word...I couldn't follow," said Raleigh. "Honestly it all sounded really kind of out there to me. Though, then again, I guess it shouldn't, given what you guys have taught me from what you found out about the Drift..."

"Yes, well I do quite understand your feeling overwhelmed, all the same," said Gottlieb. "These are not exactly easy concepts. Let's start with telomeres."

" _Telomeres!_ " Raleigh said. "Yeah, that was it. That's the word he used."

"Mmhmm, thought as much," Gottlieb said with a smile. "To put it simply, telomeres were thought to be an important in predicting a clone's expected lifespan. We've discovered, thanks to what we now know about the Drift, that there's an even bigger component to the whole process that can actually prolong the life expectancy of a cloned body. It turns out, the one thing missing from a clone is its core content. Sure a clone can eat, sleep, and live day-to-day life just fine. However, there is one major thing that it lacks, and it is its own spirit. Without it, clones are no better than robots who learn how to survive by mimicking what it sees around it."

"Is that where the whole thing about Remnants comes in?" Raleigh asked.

"Precisely!" said Gottlieb. " _Very good_ , Mister Becket! I'm beginning to wonder why you never invested your energies in the sciences."

Raleigh gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. "I was never really one for the textbooks, sir."

Gottlieb chuckled. "Fair enough."

"So how does the concept of Remnants come into play here?" Raleigh asked.

"You remember our conversation regarding them, yes, Mister Becket?" asked Gottlieb.

Raleigh nodded. He did.

"Well," said Gottlieb. "If you recall, I had told you that each time a person connects to the Drift, a piece of their spirit gets chipped off and stored within the Jaeger. At the time, we had not yet discovered that there is indeed a way to transfer the Remnant. Since a person's soul isn't exactly equivalent to a piece of computerized data, we had not thought such a process would be possible."

Raleigh's eyes widened. "Are you saying..."

"Yes," Gottlieb said with a nod. "We think we may have discovered a way to transfer Remnants stored in the Drift from one vessel to another via the Jaeger neural handshake process."

The blonde stared at the scientist in awe. "Unreal..."

"Indeed," said Gottlieb. "And of course, like with any scientific technology, the whole process does not come without some risks."

Raleigh frowned. "Right, I guess I should have suspected as much. What kind of risks are we talking here?"

"We haven't been able to confirm for certain," said Gottlieb. "But Newt and I have theorized...that since Remnants are not simply a piece of data, we do not think a copy is possible."

The older man waited a minute to allow for this piece of information to sink in. Raleigh found himself needing to swallow to rid himself of the sensation that a lump was forming in his throat.

"So...if I'm understanding this right," said Raleigh. "You're telling me that once you move the Remnant out of the Drift...there's a chance of losing it?"

"Forever. That is correct," Gottlieb confirmed solemnly with a nod. "If the transfer is successful, then the person's spirit will once again be trapped in a human vessel. This is where the concept of telomeres becomes especially important."

"And how's that?" Raleigh asked.

"For example, the marshal," said Gottlieb. "Newt and I were able to clone a new body for the late marshal from his stem cells."

"Okay..."

"Technology is much better and much more powerful today than it's ever been," said Gottlieb. "But even now we still have our limitations. There are trade-offs. Stem cell preservation techniques are better today than they were in the past, and we were able to successfully clone the marshal with a great deal of patience, and taking the better part of the past year and a half, give or take a few days. However, it is highly likely that whatever diseases he was suffering from before, he may very well suffer again in this life."

"So it's a copy of the same body, in a sense, these clones," said Raleigh. "And not exactly a brand new one."

"Correct," Gottlieb said, nodding.

"So you guys haven't really discovered the secret to immortality."

"Well, again, the answer to something like that is both yes and no," said Gottlieb.

"What do you mean?" Raleigh asked.

"This is where it gets a tad bit complicated," said Gottlieb. "Suppose someone with a lot of money was able to preserve stem cells from when they were a certain age, say, in their early thirties. So long as they have the supply and so long as preservation techniques hold—so far we are now able to preserve stem cells for roughly about ten years—then given that the transfer process goes well and further given that the individual has a piece of themselves stored in the Drift, then it is possible for them to go back to that preserved age, over and over again."

"So when they run out of the supply..."

"Ah, and that's the catch, if there ever was one now, isn't there?" said Gottlieb. "At the same time, true immortality, in a sense, is possible, but the alternative can be a lonely existence."

"You're referring to the Drift," said Raleigh.

"Right again, Mister Becket," Gottlieb said with a nod. "One can always exist in the Drift, as far as we know, but say something were to happen to you, Mister Becket. What then? One can only guess. Without one living being to channel the memories, no one else can have access to them. We don't know if spirits can mingle with one another in the Drift if both physical hosts have moved on, and so on."

"And as far as you know," said Raleigh. "The spirit doesn't exactly _move_ on until the physical body its trapped in expires, or something like that, right?"

"Exactly," said Gottlieb. "The merciful thing then in the case of yourself and your brother would be to terminate the Jaeger."

"If there was still someone around to know that we were trapped in there," the blonde said wryly.

"Yes," Gottlieb nods. "Though perhaps something like that can be addressed as a clause in a will, if one had the foresight to do so, as you now do."

"Wow..." Raleigh said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Gottlieb then took a moment to return his attention to Dr. Geiszler. "Newt? Status on progress?"

"Uh...transfer process was initiated only a few minutes ago," said the doctor. "Everything looks stable, but it's going to take time. I don't think we'll really be able to tell the results until it's all been completed."

"All right, keep a close eye on it," said Gottlieb. "Interrupt me if you need a hand."

"Will do, thanks!"

Gottlieb turned his attention back on Raleigh. "Now let's see, what else..."

"Actually, before that," said Raleigh. "Can I ask you something, sir?"

"Yes, of course," said Gottlieb. "What's on your mind?"

"Was Mako ready and willing to do this first?" Raleigh asked. "I mean, this is a big deal..."

"It is," Gottlieb agreed. "But Miss Mako insisted on being the first subject to the experiment. According to her, Marshal Pentecost also agreed. Besides, let's think about this logically, shall we? Who else would have been the better candidate to start it?"

"I...I don't know," Raleigh shrugged one shoulder. "Me and Yancy?"

"Mister Becket, let's take a look at the facts," said Gottlieb. "It was out of kind consideration that you and your brother were not asked to be subject to this experiment first. Only three individuals from two and a half remaining teams of Jaegers were left alive after the end of the great Kaiju War. Only one of them was able to discover somewhat early on and uncovered amazing secrets mankind had yet to learn about the Drift. That was Miss Mako. She has been able to keep in close contact with the late marshal via the Drift for a little over a year. You and your brother have only been reunited for significantly less than that. And the third pilot..."

"Herc Hansen..." Raleigh said, very softly. "I take it he has absolute no idea any of this is going on...?"

"None whatsoever," Gottlieb confirmed. "Given his most recent mental assessment we have on file, that is probably for the best until we can say that beyond a shadow of a doubt, this will work."

"But still..." said Raleigh. "If it turns out this _doesn't_ work...that's a huge price to pay. I already lost Yancy once...I can't imagine having to go through all that again."

"Well, Miss Mako is indeed her father's daughter," said Gottlieb. "In her words, these last couple of years have been such a huge blessing, more than she could have ever asked for. And she also realizes, we do indeed have to start somewhere. Besides, you heard what Newt said; she's already in the middle of the process. There is no way of turning back. Now the only thing we can do is sit here, wait, and hope for the best."

"Say it works," said Raleigh. "Will my brother and I be next?"

"That depends on the two of you," said Gottlieb. "And whether or not you two will be willing to take that risk. Even if this first transfer goes through successfully, that still doesn't necessarily ensure that the process is completely foolproof. Hiccups can still occur here and there where we least expect."

"Well, it's not like you all have a lot of subjects for trial and error either," said Raleigh. "What about Herc? Say Mako's and mine both work out. Will someone call him?"

"In due time, that's the plan, Mister Becket," said Gottlieb. "But let's just focus on the present for now, shall we?"

"Yeah, you're right, sorry," Raleigh said, shaking his head. "I'm getting too ahead of myself."

"That's quite all right," said Gottlieb. "Now, there is one more thing that I would like to mention."

"Yes? What is it?" asked Raleigh.

" _If_ the current transfer proves successful," said Gottlieb. "And right now that is a huge 'if'...Newt and I have a couple other questions we need to find answers to."

"All right," said Raleigh. "Such as?"

"Well, life expectancy, for one," said Gottlieb. "If our theory is correct and without error, then technically Marshal Pentecost should be able to live out the rest of his life, up until when he should have, had the Kaiju War not happened and hopefully, disease aside."

"Okay..." said Raleigh. "And the other question?"

"Comes more in multiple parts," said Gottlieb. "All regarding a person's spirit. In its new host, does it grow? Or does it remain the size of the shard that was broken off and kept preserved by the Drift? And if the Remnant does grow in size, then is it strong enough and will there be enough of it to allow a person to enter the Drift again, and possibly have another piece of their soul taken and preserved again within the Drift, thus repeating the usual process?"

"Whoa, you're right," said Raleigh. "That is a lot of important aspects to consider, if it turns out this whole transfer thing turns out all right."

"Right well, that's all I have for you right now, Mister Becket," said Gottlieb. "Now why don't you and I go over and join Newt and see how our little experiment is progressing along, shall we?"

"Yeah, all right," Raleigh said with a nod.

The pair walked over to where Dr. Geiszler was, busy taking notes and monitoring all the little screens and data flickering on his dashboard. Gottlieb motioned for Raleigh to go into a small side-room.

"The observation room is in there, Mister Becket," said Gottlieb. "You'll have a better vantage point and be able to see what's going on with the marshal and Miss Mako. With luck, you'll be a witness to a happy reunion. There will be a chair in there for you. Feel free to have a seat."

"Okay," said Raleigh.

"Now, just to warn you," said Gottlieb. "Miss Mako and the marshal's clone are going to appear as if they are asleep, but they are not. You know how it is when entering a deeper layer of the Drift."

Raleigh nodded. "Yeah, I know. Everything outside stops."

"Good," said Gottlieb. "As long as you know."

Raleigh nodded again before entering the adjoining room that Gottlieb had pointed to. Sure enough, as the man had said, there was a chair and Raleigh walked up to it and went ahead and seated himself. Meanwhile, Gottlieb took his place in a chair beside Dr. Geiszler.

"How's it going, Newt?" Gottlieb asked.

"Going well so far," said Dr. Geiszler. "They both stable. It's all up to them now, really. She has to manage to sync with the clone's mind, and somehow either has to guide the marshal in, or he needs to figure out how to do so for himself."

"Well, for the sake of our former soldiers, I hope this works," Gottlieb sighed.

"Yeah..." Dr. Geiszler said, his expression set in rare seriousness. "Me too."

In the observation room, Raleigh looked at what was before him with intense fascination. There before him, on the other side of the glass barrier that separated him from the ongoing trial was Mako and the clone of Marshal Pentecost, side-by-side. They were both fully clothed and on separate bedding. Each had, attached to their heads, a version of the Pons system that looked different from the ones Raleigh was used to from operating a Jaeger, but he knew their functions were still the same. At the moment, both Pons systems were lit up and gave off a blue glow. Both Mako and the clone appeared to be sleeping, just as Gottlieb said they would. Raleigh leaned forward in his chair, clasping his hands together and worrying one of his thumbs with his teeth.

_What is it, Rals? What's wrong?_

Raleigh sat up straight and let out a huge breath of air; he had, for a moment, completely forgotten about his brother. He absently ran a hand through his hair as he responded.

_"Sorry about that, Yance. I was just told a whole lot of things and have been trying to really take it all in."_

_Yeah, I know kid. I gathered bits and pieces when you weren't filtering your thoughts.  
_

_"Still, it was my bad."_

_It's okay._

_"Thanks."_

_So...! It looks like they think they might have found a way to get me from here to back out there?_

_"Yeah, well..."_ Raleigh paused for a second. _"Well, I don't know. They're not completely sure."_

_Well with any beta project there always comes a certain percentage of risk, isn't there?_

_"Yeah, I get that, but..."_ Raleigh sighed and leaned forward once more in his seat, rubbing at his face with his hands. _"But say in the worst-case scenario, this doesn't work. Shit hits the fan and Mako loses Pentecost forever...what do we do? Do we make a play?"_

_Then that will depend, I guess._

_"On what?"_

_On whether or not you're willing to take that risk._

_"You're putting this on me?! Yancy! I don't think I can handle the thought of losing you again. You're all the family I've got!"_

_Hey, hey...relax, kid. I'm just saying, as much as I like the idea of the possibility that I could be breathing air in my lungs again, I don't want to make things too hard on you. This isn't me putting you on the spot to make a decision; this is me saying I'm down for taking the risks only so long as you are. I'll understand if when push comes to shove, you decide that you can't go through with it.  
_

_"Yancy...I'm not trying to deny you a chance at a normal life here..."_

_And I know you're not, Rals._ His brother's voice gently spoke in Raleigh's mind. _Trust me, kid. I'll be supporting your decision either way. How long would the process take, anyway?  
_

 _"Shit, I don't know...I forgot to ask,"_ thought Raleigh. _"I know that Gottlieb mentioned something about it taking a little over a year to successfully create the marshal's clone..."_

_So it would probably take that same amount of time, give or take._

_"Right."_

_That's a long time..._

The brothers fell silent for a few moments. Raleigh blankly continued to watch the transfer process happening on the other side of the glass barrier and there was only stillness in his thoughts.

Finally, Raleigh sighed. _"Yancy..."_

_Hm?_

_"Let's think about it, okay?"  
_

_Rals..._

_"Yancy, I mean it,"_ Raleigh thought. _"My reaction earlier was too hasty...and selfish."_

_There's nothing wrong with being careful._

_"Yance..."_

_Let's just focus on the here and now, okay, kid? We don't even know if this is going to work yet. Just keep me posted on what happens. If things turn out all right, we'll talk about it then. Fair enough?_

_"Yeah..."_ Raleigh thought as he let out a deep breath of air. _"Yeah, okay. That's fair."_

_Good._

Meanwhile, Mako had found her father in the Drift. It hadn't taken her long to find him; she had practically taken off in the direction where she felt his pull the strongest. She was face-to-face with her father in seconds.

"Father!" she cried; they had only ever dropped formalities when in private.

"Mako," said Marshal Pentecost. "Is it time?"

"Yes!" said Mako. "I have to guide you back home."

The marshal frowned. "I understand, but did they explain how this was going to work?"

Mako shook her head. "It's only a guess, Father, but Doctor Geiszler said it might be helpful to try and think of it as coming back from chasing rabbits."

Pentecost took only a minute to process this. "Okay. Mako, I think I understand."

Mako frowned. "You do?"

"Yes," Pentecost said with a nod. "Mako, did you get a chance to see what I looked like before you went under?"

She gave him a curt nod. "Yes, I did."

"Good," said Pentecost. "And did you also take note of your surroundings before entering the Drift?"

"Of course I did, Father," Mako said with a tiny smile, saying the next part in Japanese. _"What do you take me for? I'm your daughter."_

The marshal chuckled. "Happy to hear all my lectures were well-received."

"Very," Mako agreed. "Shall I show you now, Father?"

"Yes, Mako," said Pentecost. "Please."

During the Kaiju War, Mako hadn't understood how to control the flow of memories, but with Gottlieb and Dr. Geiszler's assistance, she had learned. It was through those techniques that she was able to show her father what he needed to see without any negative side effects. She felt herself smile upon hearing her father's amused laugh.

"God...they really got that right, didn't they?" Pentecost said. "Looks just like me."

"It _is_ you," Mako said, before switching to Japanese once more. _"Now hurry back to me, Papa."_

Her father responded in kind. _"Of course."_

A sudden burst of excited shouting came from the control room where the doctor and Gottlieb were and captured Raleigh's instant attention. He got up and walked to the open doorway and poked his head through.

"Doc?" he said. "What's going on?"

The doctor only looked over his shoulder for a split second and gave the blonde a wide grin before returning his full attention to the monitors in front of him. "Good news, kid! We think it might have worked!"

Raleigh gripped the door's frame tightly and he felt his pulse quicken. "You're sure? How do you know?"

"Well, technically we don't," Dr. Geiszler admitted somewhat sheepishly. "But if we can take the readings we're getting right now as a positive indicator, then it's very well possible we'll be seeing the clone wake up as the marshal soon."

"What are the readings telling you?" Raleigh asked.

"Honestly, Newt, must you always skip all the essential details when you're explaining something?" Gottlieb scolded. "We're not all Ghost-Drifting with you."

Gottlieb then turned to Raleigh and gave the blonde an apologetic smile. "Please forgive my scatterbrained colleague, Mister Becket. What he just omitted in telling you is that it appears Miss Mako is showing signs that she is trying to wake herself."

"And she'd only do that if she thought the mission was accomplished, I'm assuming?" asked Raleigh.

"Correct, Mister Becket," said Gottlieb. "They should be waking soon."

"All right then," said Raleigh. "I'm going to go take a look."

The blonde walked back into the observation room and went straight to the glass barrier. He watched with heightened anticipation. A small part of his mind could feel that his brother was getting a little jittery too.

_"I know, Yance...I hear you. They're not up yet though."  
_

_I haven't said a word._

_"You didn't have to."_

On the other side of the glass, Raleigh noticed Mako stir, which made him stand up a bit straighter. A few minutes later she finally opened her eyes, but to Raleigh those minutes had felt like an eternity. She slowly reached up for the Pons unit attached to her head and pulled it off of herself. Then, as if she sensed Raleigh's presence, she turned and looked to her left and for a minute Raleigh wondered if the glass he was looking through was a one-way mirror. He raised a hand up slowly in greeting, just to test his theory. It turned out the glass wasn't one-sided after all; Mako raised a hand in response and gave Raleigh a small smile. Her attention, however, became quickly diverted upon hearing the sounds of movement coming from the bed beside hers.

It was a moment Raleigh was sure neither of them were going to forget, although for very different reasons. It was only when the marshal's clone said something to Mako that Raleigh realized he didn't have an audio feed and wasn't going to be able to hear anything happening on the other side of the glass. He didn't need to though; Mako's outward reaction was everything he needed to know what the results were of the transfer experiment. One minute her face showed confusion and disbelief, and in the next minute her eyes were filled with tears and a hand reached up to cover her mouth. Then, the marshal's clone got up from his bed with Mako doing the same, and soon the two were locked in a crushing embrace. That was the moment that told Raleigh all he needed to know—the marshal wasn't just a clone anymore. He was really in there. He was back.

 _"Oh fuck, Yancy..."_ Raleigh thought.

 _What?_ His brother's voice cut through excitedly. _What is it? What's going on? Did it work, man? Is everyone all right?_

Raleigh answered after he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. _"Yeah...yeah bro. They did it. It worked."_

_Holy shit!_

_"Yeah, that's exactly right,"_ Raleigh thought. _"Holy shit..."_

_Unbelievable._

_"We have to do it, Yance."_

His brother didn't respond right away at first. Raleigh couldn't blame him; he almost shocked himself with the sudden thought too. When Yancy finally did answer though, Raleigh shared completely in his older brother's surge of excitement. He grinned in amusement because he knew his brother was trying hard not to push him to any kind of decision.

_Are you serious? You sure, kid? Didn't you want to think about it some more?_

Raleigh shook his head even knowing his older brother couldn't see. _"Yeah, I'm sure, bro. Let's do it."_

His brother was laughing. _Dude...I don't know what else to say._

A warm smile graced the younger Becket's lips. _"It's okay, Yance. I know. You don't have to say anything at all."_

After a brief pause, he added one more thought. _"Love you, brother."_

Yancy didn't miss a beat in giving a response. _Love you too, kid._

**Author's Note:**

> So funny enough, originally, this was supposed to be a oneshot, but then I thought it might not be a bad idea to break this story into a few parts, so I've decided to go ahead and do just that. That being said, this isn't going to be any longer than what I've originally planned, so if in the event readers think I should have consolidated the whole thing, please do feel free to say so and I will take that as a lesson learned for the future. Hahaha. In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoyed this part and looking forward to hearing what you all think!


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